Tennis
Sonmez serves a Turkish delight on opening day of Australian Open, Venus falls
Qualifier Zeynep Sonmez pulled off the biggest win of her career as she sent 11th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova crashing out of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Sunday.
The 23-year-old Sonmez from Turkey will remember the opening day performance at Australian Open 2026 for the rest of her life. The player was given a rousing reception by those packed inside 1573 Arena on her way to a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory, the most significant of her young career so far.
The World No.112 from Istanbul, who hit back from 3-0 down in the decider, made as many headlines for her compassion on court as her racquet skills on way to a second top 20 win when she helped a ball kid, who had collapsed next to the umpire’s chair during the second set.
“I always say it is more important to be a good human being than a good tennis player,” Sonmez told BBC Sport after becoming the first Turkish woman ever to win a main draw singles match at Melbourne Park.
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That upset was one of 32 singles matches played across both draws in front of the largest day session crowd in tournament history, with 73,235 coming through the gates.
Alexandrova was one of four seeds who lost during the first few hours as Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse defeated 26th seed Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 7-5.
Frenchwoman Elsa Jacquemot also made history when she outlasted 20th seed Marta Kostyuk in a three hour 31 minutes thriller 10-7 in the deciding shootout, in what turned out to be the first triple-tiebreak match in the open ear of the Australian Open.
On the men’s side, young British qualifier Arthur Fery made the most of his chances against 20th seed Flavio Cobolli to win 7-6(1) 6-4 6-1. The Italian later explained he had been suffering from an upset stomach that struck minutes before he walked on court.
Venus Williams grabbed a set before the young left-hander Danilovic steadied herself to come through 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4
The great Venus Williams put on yet another memorable show for those inside John Cain Arena as the 45-year-old wildcard pushed Serbia’s Olga Danilovic all the way.
The seven-time major singles champion and two-time runner-up in Melbourne grabbed a first set tiebreak before the young left-hander Danilovic steadied herself to come through 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4.
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Elsewhere in the women’s draw it was business as usual for the big names as Aryna Sabalenka, Jasmine Paolini, Elina Svitolina and Emma Raducanu all moved into the second round.
Former two-time champion Sabalenka defeated Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah 6-4, 6-1 during the opening match of the Rod Laver Arena evening session, while seventh seed Paolini cruised against qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich for the loss of three games on the same court earlier on Sunday.
Twelfth seed and recent Auckland champion Svitolina is looking sharp early in the season and had few problems getting past Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 6-4 6-1.
Maria Sakkari, probably, produced the shot of the tournament on Day 1. A slice so good, even Maria looked stunned. When Leolia Jeanjean’s serve spun wide, Sakkari raced forward and chopped the ball around the net post, landing it softly with just the right amount of backspin.
“I’ve been playing for 25 years. I could never imagine I can hit that kind of return,” she said. “You see when Roger [Federer] hits it, Carlos [Alcaraz], and then myself. I’m like ‘ah!’ … I’m pretty sure it’s going to make one of the best shots of the tournament.”
In the men’s draw, top seed Carlos Alcaraz had nothing much to worry about in his first match of the season as he got past Aussie Adam Walton 6-3 7-6(2) 6-2.
However, No.3 seed Alexander Zverev had to work a bit harder as he dropped the opening set to young Canadian Gabriel Diallo before fighting back to win 6-7(1) 6-1 6-4 6-2.
And there were victories for the newest member of the ATP top 10 Alexander Bublik as well as 29th seed Frances Tiafoe, who has recently began working with a performance physiologist and biomechanics researcher in his quest to get back up the rankings.